Chapter Three

Bearing Capacity of a
soil
By Tesfa MT.

1
 Introduction
 A foundation, often constructed from concrete,
steel or wood, is a structure designed to
transfer loads from a superstructure to the
soil underneath the superstructure.
 In general, foundations are categorized into
two groups, namely, shallow and deep
foundations.
 Shallow foundations are comprised of footings,
while deep foundations include piles that are
used when the soil near the ground surface has
no enough strength to stand the applied loading.
 …Introduction
 The ultimate bearing capacity, qu, (in kPa) is
the load that causes the shear failure of the
soil underneath and adjacent to the footing.
 In this chapter, we will discuss equations used
to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of
soils.
Bearing Failure Modes

(a) General shear (b) Local shear and (c) Punching shear
 ...Bearing Failure Modes
 The general shear failure (Fig a) is usually
associated with soils of low compressibility such
as dense sand and stiff cohesive soils.
 local shear failure (Fig b), which is common in
sands and clays of medium compaction
 punching shear failure (Fig c), a condition
common in loose and very compressible soils

5
Ultimate Bearing Capacity Equations

Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity equation

 Many of the present day principles regarding
bearing capacity equations appear to have had
their origin on a failure mechanism proposed by
Prandtl in the early 1920s.
 Prandtl developed a bearing capacity equation
assuming a smooth (frictionless) footing and
ignoring the weight of the soil in the failure
zone.
 …Terzaghi’s equation
 These assumptions are not true in practice and
therefore Prandtl’s equation is never used in
practical design, but it was a beginning.
 Terzhagi (1943) improved the Prandtl equation
to include the roughness of the footing and the
weight of the failure zone.
 The failure mechanism in a c’, φ’ soil for
Terzhagi’s bearing capacity solution is shown in
the figure below.
…Terzaghi’s equation
…Terzaghi’s equation

Terzhagi’s ultimate bearing capacity equations

are given as follows:
 Strip (or long) footing:
qu  c' N c  DN q  0.5BN 
 Square footing:
qu  1.3c' N c  DN q  0.4 BN 

 Circular footing:
qu  1.3c' N c  DN q  0.3BN 
…Terzaghi’s equation

Where Nc, Nq and Nγ are called the bearing

capacity factors and are obtained as follows:

e ( 3 / 2 ') tan  '

Nq 
2 cos 2 (45   ' / 2)

N c  cot  ' ( N q  1)

 K p 
N  1
tan  '   1 
 cos  '
2 2

…Terzaghi’s equation
…Terzaghi’s equation
…Terzaghi’s equation

 Based on the above figure, Aysen (2002)

proposed the following equation to obtain the
value of Kpγ in the Nγ equation:
K p  (8 ' 2 4 '3.8) tan 2 (60 0   ' / 2)
 Where φ’ is in radians.
 In the undrained conditions (φu = 0)
Nq  1

N c  ( 32   1)  5.71

N  0
Meyerhof’s Bearing Capacity equation

 Meyerhof (1951) developed a bearing capacity

equation by extending Terzhagi’s failure
mechanism and taking into account the effects
of footing shape, load inclination and footing
depth by adding the corresponding factors of s,
d, and i.
 For a rectangular footing of L by B (L > B) and
inclined load:
qu  c' N c s c ic d c  DN q s q iq d q  0.5BN  s i d 
 … Meyerhof’s equation

 For vertical load, ic = iq = iγ = 1

q u  c ' N c s c d c  DN q s q d q  0 .5 B N  s  d 

 Where
N q  exp( tan  ' ) tan 2 ( 45   ' / 2)
N c  cot  ' ( N q  1)
N   ( N q  1) tan(1.4 ' )
… Meyerhof’s equation
… Meyerhof’s equation

 In the undrained conditions (φu = 0)

Nq  1
N c  (  2)  5.14

N  0
… Meyerhof’s equation
… Meyerhof’s equation

 For the eccentric load, the length and width

of the footing rectangle are modified to:
L’ = L – 2eL and B’ = B – 2eB
 Where eL and eB represent the eccentricity
along the appropriate directions.
 Hansen’s Bearing Capacity Equation

 Hansen (1961) extended Meyerhof’s solutions

by considering the effects of sloping ground
surface and tilted base as well as modification
of Nγ and other factors.
 For a rectangular footing of L by B (L > B) and
inclined ground surface, base and load:

qu  c' N c sc d c ic bc g c  DN q s q d q iq bq g q  0.5BN  s d  i b g 

 The above equation is sometimes referred to as
the general bearing capacity equation.
… Hansen’s equation
 … Hansen’s equation

 In the special case of a horizontal ground surface

q u  c ' N c s c d c i c b c   DN q s q d q i q b q  0 .5 B  N  s  d  i b

N q  exp( tan  ' ) tan 2 ( 45   ' / 2)

N c  cot  ' ( N q  1)
N   1.5( N q  1) tan 
…Hansen’s equation
 …Hansen’s equation
 Since failure can take place either along the long side
or along the short side, Hansen proposed two sets of
shape, inclination and depth factors.
 Shape factors:
Nq B B B
sc , B  1   ic, B sq,B  1  iq,B  sin' s ,B  1  0.4 i ,B  0.6
N L L L
c

Nq L L L
sc , L  1  ic , L sq,L  1  iq , L  sin  ' s , L  1  0 .4 i  , L  0 . 6
Nc B B B

 For undrained condition:

B L
s c,B  0 .2 i c , B s c , L  0 .2 ic ,L
L B
 …Hansen’s equation
 Inclination factors:
1 2
1  iq,i  0.5Hi   0.7Hi 
ic,i  iq,i  iq,i  1  
i ,i  1  
Nq 1  V  Acb cot'   V  Acb cot' 
 Where 2  1  5 and 2   2  5
 For the tilted base:
2
 (0.7   450 ) H i 
0 0
i ,i  1  
 V  Ac b cot  ' 
 For undrained condition: ic,i  0.5  0.5 1  H i Acb
 In the above equations, B and L may be
replaced by their effective values (B’ and L’).
 …Hansen’s equation

 The depth factors are expressed in two sets:

 For D/B ≤ 1 & D/L ≤ 1:
d c , B  1  0 .4  D d q, B  1  2 tan  ' (1  sin ' ) 2  D
B B
dc,L  1  0.4  D d q , L  1  2 tan  ' (1  sin  ' ) 2  D
L L
 For D/B > 1 & D/L > 1:
d c , B  1  0.4  tan 1 D  B d q,B  1  2 tan ' (1  sin ' ) 2  tan1 (D )
B
d c , L  1  0.4  tan 1  D L d q , L  1  2 tan  ' (1  sin  ' ) 2  tan 1 ( D )
L
 For both sets: d   1
 For undrained condition:
d c,B  0.4  D d c , L  0 .4  D
B L
 …Hansen’s equation

 For the sloping ground and tilted base, the

ground factors gi and base factors bi are
proposed by the following equations. The angles b
and h are at the same plane, either parallel to B
or L.
 g q  g   1  0 .5 tan  
0 5
g c  1 0
147
 0
bc  1
1470 b q  e  2 tan  ' b   e  2 .7 tan  '

 For undrained condition:

gc   0
 0
147 0 bc 
147 0
Comparative summary of the three bearing
capacity equations

 Terzaghi’s equations were and are still widely used,

perhaps because they are somewhat simpler than
Meyerhof’s and Hansen’s.
 Practitioners use Terzaghi’s equations for a very
cohesive soil and D/B < 1.
 However, Terzaghi’s equations have the following
major drawbacks:
 …Comparative summary of the three
bearing capacity equations

 Shape, depth and inclination factors are not

considered.
 Terzaghi’s equations are suitable for a
concentrically loaded horizontal footing but are not
suitable for eccentrically (for example, columns
with moment or titled forces) loaded footings that
are very common in practice.
 The equations are generally conservative than
Meyerhof’s and Hansen’s.
 …Comparative summary of the three
bearing capacity equations

 Currently, Meyerhof’s and Hansen’s equations are

more widely used than Terzaghi’s.
 Both are viewed as somewhat less conservative and
applicable to more general conditions.
 Hansen’s is, however, used when the base is tilted
or when the footing is on a slope and for D/B > 1.
Effects of Groundwater Table on
Bearing Capacity
 The term γD in the bearing capacity equations
refers to the vertical stress of the soil above the
base of the footing.
 The last term γB refers to the vertical stress of a
soil mass of thickness B, below the base of the
footing.
 You need to check which one of the three
groundwater situations is applicable to your project.
 Situation 1: Groundwater level at a depth B below
the base of the footing. In this case no modification
of the bearing capacity equations is required.
 …Effects of Groundwater Table

 Situation 2: Groundwater level within a depth B

below the base of the footing. If the groundwater
level is at a depth z below the base, such that z < B,
then the term γB is γz+ γ’(B-z) or γ satz+ γ’(B-z) .
 The term γD remains unchanged.
 Situation 3:Groundwater level within the embedment
depth. If the groundwater is at a depth z within the
embedment such that z < D, then the term γD is
γz + γ’(D-z) or γsatz + γ’(D-z).
 The term γB becomes γ’B.
Allowable bearing capacity and factor
of safety
 The allowable bearing capacity, qa is calculated
by dividing the ultimate bearing capacity by a
factor, called the factor of safety, FS.
 The FS is intended to compensate for
assumptions made in developing the bearing
capacity equations, soil variability, inaccurate soil
data, and uncertainties of loads.
 The magnitude of FS applied to the ultimate
bearing capacity may be between 2 and 3.
 …Allowable bearing capacity

 The allowable bearing capacity is:

qu
qa 
FS
 Alternatively, if the maximum applied foundation
stress is known and the dimension of the footing
is also known then a factor of safety can be
calculated as: q
FS  u

( a ) max
 Eccentric Loads

 Meyerhof (1963) proposed an approximate

method for loads that are located off-centered
(or eccentric loads).

 He proposed that for a rectangular footing of

width B and length L, the base area should be
modified with the following dimensions:
 …Eccentric Loads

B’ = B – 2eB and L’ =L - 2eL

 Where B’ and L’ are the modified width and length,
eB and eL are the eccentricities in the directions of
the width and length, respectively. From your
course in mechanics you should recall that
My Mx
eB  eL 
P P
 Where P is the vertical load, and My and Mx are the
moments about the y and x axes, respectively
…Eccentric Loads

 eB & eL should always be less than B/6 & L/6,

respectively.
 The bearing capacity equations are modified for
eccentric loads by replacing B with B’.
 Field Tests

 Often, it is difficult to obtain undisturbed

samples of especially coarse-grained soils for
laboratory testing and one has to use results
from field tests to determine the bearing
capacity of shallow foundations.
 Some of the most common methods used for
field tests are briefly described below.
 …Field Tests

Plate Loading Test

 Tests on full sized footings are desirable but
expensive.
 The alternative is to carry out plate loading
tests. The plate loading test is carried out to
estimate the bearing capacity of single footings.
 The plates that are used in the field are usually
made of steel and are 25 mm thick and 150 mm
to 762 mm in diameter.
 …Field Tests

 A circular plate of 300 mm is commonly used in

practice. Occasionally, square plates that are
300 mm×300 mm are also used.
…Field Tests

 For tests in clay, qu ( F )  qu ( P )

BF
 For tests in sandy soil, q u ( F )  q u ( P ) Bp
 …Field Tests

Standard Penetration Test (SPT)

 The N values obtained from SPT are usually
corrected for various effects such as
overburden pressure and energy transfer.
 Meyerhof (1956, 1974) proposed the following
equations to determine the allowable bearing
capacity qa from SPT values.
12
qa  S e N cor k d ,B<=1.22 m
25
2
8  B  0.305
qa  Se Ncor   kd ,B > 1.22 m
25  B 
 …Field Tests

 Bowles (1996) modified Meyerhof’s equations by

50% increase in the allowable bearing capacity.
 Bowles’s equations are:

20
qa  Se Ncor kd , B <= 1.22 m
25
2
12.5  B  0.305  , B > 1.22 m
qa  S e N cor   kd
25  B 